N. C. SHARMA, J. - (1.) THIS common order will dispose of the preliminary objection as to the maintainability of the above writ petitions filed in this Court by Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur, Shri M. L. Chaurasia and Shri Richpal Singh raised on behalf of the respondents. All these five writ petitions relate to matters concerning promotion to the posts of Superintending Engineers and Chief Engineer in the same Department of the Government of Rajasthan, namely, the Ground-Water Department, Jodhpur. Previously all the three petitioners were holding the posts of Executive Engineers in the Ground Water Department. Rules regulating the recruitment and conditions of service pertaining to the Ground Water Department under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution and known as Rajasthan Ground Water Board Service Rules, 1969 were framed by the Governor and promulgated in that year. Prior to 1. 11. 1973, the position of Rules regarding promotion to the post of Superintending Engineer was that an appointment to this post in the service was to be made by selection strictly on the basis of merit and on the basis of seniority-cum-merit in the proportion of 1:2. THIS criteria of promotion was altered by an amendment made in the Rules and published in Rajasthan Gazette dated November 1, 1975. It was provided by the amended Rule 25 (3) of the Rules that selection for promotion to all other higher posts of higher categories of posts in the service was to be made on the basis of merit alone. The Rules further underwent a change on March 7, 1978 and it was provided by Rule 25 (6) that selection for promotion to ail other higher posts or higher categories or posts in the State service shall be made on the basis of merit and on the basis of seniority-cum-merit in the proportion of 50:50. So far as selection or promotion to the highest post or highest categories of posts in the State Service was concerned, it was provided by Rule 25 (7) that it shall always be made on the basis of merit alone. THIS was the Rule in force with effect from March 7, 1978.
(2.) SHRI CM. Dhadda was promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer in the Ground Water Department on the basis of merit on January 28,1970 and SHRI T N. Mehra was promoted to the post of the Superintending Engineer on the basis of seniority-cum-merit on September 8, 1970. These promotions were made against two vacancies which had occurred in the posts of Superintending Engineers in the year 1970 in the Department, Next vacancy of the post of Superintending Engineer occurred in the year 1972 and against that vacancy SHRI M. M. Gupta was promoted as Superintending Engineer on the basis of seniority-cum-merit. No further vacancy in this category of the posts occurred before the year 1981-82. It was in the year 1981-82 that one vacancy of the post of Superintending Engineer took place and SHRI Vivek Prakash Mathur petitioner in Writ Petitions Nos. 2228 of 1987 and 3191 of 1987 was promoted as Superintending Engineer on the basis of merit. It may hereby noted that when the vacancy of the post of Superintending Engineer occurred in the year 1981-82, the criteria for promotion to this post was according to Rule 25 (6) of the Rules on the basis of merit or on the basis of seniority-cum-merit in the proportion of 50:50. SHRI Vivek Prakash Mathur was confirmed on the post of Superintending Engineer with effect from June 4, 1982. Thereafter one vacancy in the post of Superintending Engineer occurred in the year 1982-83. As against the vacancy of this year, SHRI M. L. Chaurasia, petitioner in Writ Petitions Nos. 2988 of 1987 and II of 1988, was promoted as Superintending Engineer on the basis of seniority-cum-merit. SHRI T. N. Mehra who was then posted as Chief Engineer Ground Water Department expired on October 24, 1984. Consequent upon the death of SHRI T. N. Mehra, Chief Engineer, Ground Water Department, Jodhpur, SHRI Vivek Prakash Mathur senior-most Officiating Superintending Engineer was promoted to hold the charge of the post of the Chief Engineer in addition to his own duties with immediate effect till further orders by an order of the Government in Agriculture Department No. F. 767/agri. /iii/84 dated November 7, 1984. Thereafter Government in continuation of its aforesaid order dated November 7, 1984, passed an order dated September 11, 1985 posting SHRI Vivek Prakash Mathur as Chief Engineer, Ground Water Department, Jodhpur in his own pay scale of Superintending Engineer with immediate effect. He was directed to handover the charge of the post of Superintending Engineer to SHRI P. C. Jain, Executive Engineer, who was to perform the duties of the post of Superintending Engineer in addition to his own duties. It may here be mentioned that although SHRI Vivek Prakash Mathur and SHRI M. L. Chaurasia were respectively promoted on the post of Superintending Engineer as against the vacancies occurring in the years 1981-82 and 1982-83, but their promotion orders were issued on April 10, 1987 and thereby their dates of confirmation on the post of Superintending Engineer were respectively specified as June 4, 1982 and October 13, 1983' As against this order dated April 10, 1987, Shri P. C. Jain who is one of the respondents in all these writ petitions, filed an appeal before the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal Jaipur. In his appeal No. 241 of 1987, Shri P. C. Jain impleaded, apart from the State of Rajasthan, Shri M. L. Chaurasia as respondent. The main contentions of Shri P. C. Jain in his appeal before the Tribunal were that a new revised criteria of promotion was specified by the Government by its notification dated March 7, 1978 and according to this new criteria, the post of Superintending Engineer was to be filled up by merit and seniority-cum-merit in the proportion of 50:50. However, an Explanation had been inserted to Rule 25 (6) of the Rules by notification dated August 17, 1978 according to which if in a service, in any category of post, number of posts available for promotion was an odd number, then for the purpose of determination of vacancy for selection by promotion on the basis of seniority-cum-merit and merit in the proportion of 50:50, the following cyclic order was to be followed: - The first vacancy by seniority-cum-merit. The subsequent vacancy by merit. The cycle to be repeated. On the basis of the above criteria for promotion, it was pleaded by Shri P. C. Jain before the Tribunal that the first vacancy of Superintending Engineer which occurred in the year 1981-82 (which was an odd vacancy) was to be filled in on the basis of seniority-cum-merit and not on the basis of merit as had been done by the Departmental Promotion Committee and in pursuance of whose recommendations, the order dated April 10, 1987 was passed by the Government of Rajasthan. According to him, the latter vacancies occurring in 1982-83 and 1984-85 were to be filled up respectively by merit and seniority-cum-merit as per Explanation to Rule 15 (6) added in the Rules by notification dated August 17, 1978. Shri P. C. Jain inter alia prayed in his appeal before the Tribunal that the order of the Government dated April JO, 1987 promoting Shri M. L. Chaurasia as Superintending Engineer on the basis of seniority-cum-merit may be quashed and the State of Rajasthan be directed to reconvene the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee for selection to the post of Superintending Engineers and it may be directed to consider the first vacancy of this post occurring in the year 1981-82 to be filled upon the basis of seniority-cum-merit and the second vacancy occurring in the year 1982-83 to be filled in by merit. This appeal filed by Shri P. C. Jain before the Tribunal was contested by the State of Rajasthan by filing a reply. The stand taken by the State of Rajasthan in its reply before the Tribunal was that when the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee was held in the year 1974, the selection to the post of Superintending Engineer was made on the basis of seniority cum-merit and it was mentioned by the Committee that when next vacancy occurs, the first vacancy will be filled up on the basis of merit and therefore, the vacancy which was available in the year 1981-82 was filled in on the basis of merit and the next vacancy which became available in the year 1982-83 was filled in on the basis of seniority-cum-merit. Despite having filed this reply to the appeal preferred by Shri P. C. Jain, the State of Rajasthan, of its own accord, re-convened a meeting of the Review Departmental Promotion Committee and on the basis of the recommendations made by it issued a fresh order regarding promotions to the posts of Superintending Engineer in the Ground Water Department. By its order dated 24th November 1987, Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur was promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer as against the vacancy of the year 1981 -82 on the basis of seniority (instead on the basis of merit) and was confirmed on this post with effect from June 4, 1982. In the vacancy which occurred in the year 1982-83, instead of Shri M. L. Chaurasia, who had been previously promoted, Shri P. C. Jain was promoted as Superintending Engineer on the basis of merit and was confirmed with effect from October 13, 1983. Shri M. L. Chaurasia was promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer as against a newly created temporary post in the year 1987-88 and Shri K. K Hatdania (a member belonging to a Scheduled caste) was also promoted as Superintending Engineer as against another newly created temporary post in the year 1987-88. It may here be mentioned that before the meeting of this Review Departmental Promotion Committee was held on 12th and 13th November, 1987, a meeting of another Departmental Promotion Committee was held earlier on August 4, 1987 to make selection for promotion to the post of Chief Engineer, Ground Water Department and that Departmental Promotion Committee did not find Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur as suitable for the post of Chief Engineer and, therefore, an order was issued by the Government on August 21, 1987 reverting Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur from the post of Chief Engineer to his substantive post of Superintending Engineer. He was posted on a newly created post of Superintending Engineer-cum-Technical Assistant and it was further directed that Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur was, in addition to his own duties as Superintending Engineer, to continue to perform the duties of the post of Chief Engineer. This back-ground and course of events led Sarv Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur, M. L. Chaurasia and Richpal Singh to file the present writ petitions. It may next be mentioned that in a stay petition No. 84 of 1987 filed by Shri M. L. Chaurasia connected with his writ petition No. 2988 of 1987 an expert stay order was passed by this Court on November 23, 1987, to the effect that the order dated April 10, 1987 whereby he was promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer on the basis of seniority-cum-merit will not be disturbed by the respondents qua Shri M. L. Chaurasia. According to Shri M L. Chaurasia, despite this stay order, the State Government issued the revised promotion orders for the post of Superintending Engineers as against vacancies falling in the years 1981-82 and 1982-83 and disturbed his promotion made to this post earlier on April 10, 1987. For this Shri M. L. Chaurasia filed contempt petition No, 282 of 1987 before this Court. Later on in second stay Petition No. 3024 of 1987, an expert stay order was issued against the respondents staying the operation of its two orders dated November 24, 1987 referred to above qua Shri M. L. Chaurasia. Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur had also filed a stay petition No 2023 of 1987 connected with Writ Petition No. 2228 of 1987 and an expert stay order was passed on September 9, 1987 staying the operation of Government order dated August 21, 1987. On another stay petition No. 3022 of 1987 connected with Writ Petition No. 3191 of 1987, an expert stay was granted in favour of Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur directing the State of Rajasthan not to convene meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee to fill up the post of Chief Engineer, Ground Water Department Jodhpur and the stay order continues.
(3.) SHRI Vivek Prakash Mathur in his writ petition No. 2228 of 1987 has prayed for a writ or direction to the effect that order dated August 21, 1987 finding him unsuitable for the post of Chief Engineer may be declared to be invalid and may be quashed and the State of Rajasthan be forbidden from giving effect to its said order. It has further been prayed that the State of Rajasthan be directed to pay to the petitioner the emoluments of the post of Chief Engineer on and from November 7, 1984 till he is made to discharge duties as Chief Engineer even if for any reason he is not found entitled to do so after a particular date. In his second Writ Petition No. 3191 of 1987, SHRI Vivek Prakash Mathur has prayed that the order of the State Government dated November 24, 1987 promoting SHRI P. C. Jain as Superintending Engineer on the basis of merit may be declared to be invalid and quashed and the State of Rajasthan be directed that the Departmental Promotion Committee will consider his case for promotion to the post of Chief Engineer to the exclusion of SHRI P. C. Jain in the vacancy occurring in the year 1984-85. It is further said that the Departmental Promotion Committee should consider his case for promotion to the post of Chief Engineer not only on the basis of merit but on the basis of seniority-cum-merit in the vacancy which occurred in the year 1984-85, and 1985-86 and then for 1986-87 if occasion arises therefore by confining consideration of the petitioner alone. Shri M. L. Chaurasia in his writ petition No. 2988 of 1987 has prayed that the aforesaid orders dated November 24, 1987 and also order dated December 5, 1987 may be declared to be invalid and may be quashed. He has further prayed that the order of the Government dated April 10, 1987 may be declared to have been validly made and he may be given all benefits consequential to such a declaration. He has also prayed that the appointment given to Shri P. C. Jain may be declared to be invalid. In his second Writ Petition No. 11 of 1988 Shri M. L. Chaurasia has prayed that the recommendation of the review Departmental Promotion Committee pursuant to which the order dated August 21, 1987 was made in the case of Shri Vivek Prakash Mathur be declared to be illegal being violative of Article 16 of the Constitution of India. He has also prayed for a direction to the State Government to consider his candidature for the post of Chief Engineer in the Ground Water Department as against the vacancy that has occurred in the year 1984-85 and the zone of consideration may be confined to those candidates who were eligible then. Richpal Singh in his Writ Petition No. 3042 of 1987 has also prayed for the quashing of orders dated November 24, 1987 and December 5, 1987. He has further prayed that the Confidential Reports of the years 1976-77, 1980-81 and 1981-82 of Shri P. C. Jain may be declared to be invalid and may be quashed. By amendment the writ petition, it has also been prayed that it be declared that the convening of the Departmental Promotion Committee for the purpose of making fresh recommendations by reviewing its previous recommendations for the appointment to the posts of Superintending Engineers for the vacancies of the year 1981-82 and 1982-83 is illegal and ineffective and if Shri P. C. Jain is selected for any reason, by the Review Departmental Promotion Committee for any of the two vacancies, his selection may be declared to be invalid. Shri Richpal Singh has also prayed for quashing the orders dated November 24, 1987 and December 5, 1987 referred to above. ;